February 27, 2020
Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar is pleased that the first meetings of two of the Committees established in the Gibraltar Protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Memoranda of Understanding under it, have been held today in Algeciras.
The Attorney General, Michael Llamas QC, led the teams of officials representing Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar at the meetings on Citizens Rights and Police and Customs Cooperation which were held today.
The meetings addressed all aspects of the agreement set out in the Protocol and the Memoranda and did not involve any discussion of the future relationship between Gibraltar and the European Union.
Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar is very pleased with the outcome of the technical discussions today, in particular with the work that the Spanish authorities are undertaking to produce lists of Gibraltarians who are exercising EU rights and who are entitled to the protection of their rights as EU citizens under the Withdrawal Agreement after 31st December 2020. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC MP, said: “The reports provided to the Government of the talks today have been very positive. The atmosphere has been a respectful and constructive one. This augurs well for the dialogue to come. I have full confidence in the representation of the Gibraltar delegation by Attorney General, Michael Llamas QC, and the team of officials who have attended today and will attend the remaining meeting tomorrow on cooperation on the Environment. I expect we will be able to say more tomorrow about how the process of these meetings on cooperation on orderly withdrawal from the EU will continue until the end of the year, once the whole round of initial meetings this week has been concluded.”